In our January 2011 issue, we featured just a few of the works included in Postcards of the Wiener Werkstätte, a recent exhibition at the Neue Galerie of about 500 postcards from the Leonard A. Lauder collection. If you missed the show, which closed a few days ago, take heart: the curator Christian Witt-Dörring has edited the museum’s visual feast down to a digestible bite of six postcards. Here he presents his personal favorites and explains what makes them special.

Postcard n° 540
Meat Market: Old Roofs (1911) by Adalberta Kiesewetter

The topic of this postcard is the unspectacular or, to put it another way, the familiar. It tries to capture the atmosphere of the fast disappearing old city of Vienna around 1910. Nostalgia embraces contemporary artistic expression—the ambiguous play between the flat plane and a perspective rendering. The image breathes tradition in the Secessionists’ interpretation of the term as a revival of a lost quality.

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In 1999, Benjamin and Thomas Cherner began the Cherner Chair Company to manufacture their father’s iconic molded-plywood chairs. Since then, they have reissued many other Norman Cherner designs according to original drawings and specifications. This year they’re introducing Multiflex credenzas—marking the first time they’ve ventured into case goods. The cabinets are made to order in a tremendous range of configurations and come in either “classic” walnut (the exposed beech core is stained to match the walnut veneer) or “natural” walnut (a clear finish emphasizes the contrast between the beech core and the walnut veneer). The brothers are also releasing a 1968 design for a rectangular tube lamp that sat on a table in their childhood home. Made of cast translucent acrylic and chrome-plated steel rods, it casts a uniform glow and is available in table, floor,  and pendant options. All the products from this family-run operation are made in the United States. Read more…

Sometimes the best designs at ICFF aren’t furniture. Case in point: Black + Blum’s considered High&Dry dish rack, which is as close to beautiful as such a quotidian object can get. According to Martin Blum, he and his co-designer, Dan Black, wanted to create a dish rack that would be at home in a high-end, minimalist kitchen, where such accessories are generally tucked out of sight. So they turned to modern architecture for inspiration and specifically the work of the Santiago Calatrava. Indeed, the polypropylene-and-stainless-steel rack, which unfolds into a flexible wave of spikes to hold glasses, resembles the Spanish architect’s design for the WTC transportation hub. (It can also fold flat for storage or a rinse in the dishwasher.) The tray is free of any flat surfaces or construction lines that might trap grime and features an ingenious drainage spout that can be flipped up when not positioned by a sink.

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Each month, In Production features a new product by an up-and-coming designer, alongside his or her detailed comments on the choices (and compromises) that led to the final design. After the jump, Metropolis’s managing editor, Belinda Lanks, discusses this month’s column, on Help Remedies.

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This is the second of two reports from a recent daylong retreat at Philip Johnson’s iconic residence. Click here to read part 1.

Photos: Belinda Lanks

A small cadre of design professionals came together last Wednesday at Philip Johnson’s Glass House to discuss the thornier issues of Modern preservation. The site was a perfect setting for such a conversation: Johnson guaranteed the survival of his 47-acre compound in New Canaan, Connecticut, by transferring it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which opened the grounds to the public in 2007. Among the compelling questions raised were: What steps should be taken to ensure the survival of important postwar structures, and how can architects find new lessons in those buildings while respectfully moving beyond them? Read more…

I’m a lover of obsolete technology. To give you an idea, I like the scratchy sound of 78s played on my wind-up phonograph, and I covet every megalethoscope that makes an appearance on Antiques Roadshow. So you generally won’t find me mooning over the latest injection-molded, CNC-milled, or parametric-modeled design. Michael Hurwitz’s booth, therefore, was a breath of fresh air at this year’s ICFF. Based out of a small woodworking studio in Philadelphia, he handcrafts stunning one-of-a-kind pieces but recently collaborated with a friend in Japan to produce the more affordable Marina Line using sustainable materials. My favorite is the five-legged Plum Blossom barstool made of local Pennsylvania cherry. “In Japan they’re crazy about cherry blossoms, but in a pinch, a plum blossom will substitute,” Hurwitz says, referring to the petal-shaped seat, which comes upholstered in 100% recycled Maharam textiles. You can see the rest of his work at www.michaelhurwitzfurniture.com.

Among the usual more established attendees at ICFF, there are always a few refreshing and hopeful first-timers. This year Jenny Lemieux and Leo Corrales, of the Canadian-based Hero Design Lab, stood out for their resource-saving outdoor collection. Called Hero 365, the line consists of a clothes-drying rack and a rainwater collector made from powder-coated, recyclable metal with a cheery ’50s pattern. Lemieux and Corrales set out to refine two everyday objects that were badly in need of a designer’s touch. “The rain collectors you see are all those plastic, orange things that look horrible in a home environment,” Lemieux says. “And I’ve always had to buy a million drying racks because they fall apart. So we wanted to make something that would basically last forever.”

Her sturdy drying rack features swing-out bars as well as a pull-up drying table for those items that need to lie flat. (The designers are still working out some kinks but hope to have it production within the next couple of months.) The rainwater collector ($275) holds 45 gallons of water in a collapsible plastic bladder and has a place at the bottom for hanging your watering can. Harvested rain can then be used for washing your car or tending your garden—without drawing on your local water supply. Both pieces will arrive flat-packed from Canada.